Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Shakira and Iron Maiden music engineer Terry Manning dies at 77 in “sudden, fatal fall” at home
Musician Terry Manning, who worked with the likes of Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Shakira and Iron Maiden, has died.
Music engineer, composer, songwriter, producer, photographer, artist and more Terry Manning - who worked with the likes of Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Shakira and Iron Maiden - has passed away. The 77-year-old is believed to have died after a fall at his home in El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday, March 25.
Although no official cause of death has been released, Manning’s friend, fellow-musician Robert Johnson, shared details he said he received from Manning’s wife with the Memphis Flyer, saying the engineer suffered from a “sudden, fatal fall” at his house.
Manning enjoyed a 50-year career in the music business, working with a roster that reads like a who's-who of the industry, including others like George Thorogood, Shania Twain, Joe Walsh, Lenny Kravitz and many more. He was inducted into the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2013 and released a number of his own solo albums, as well as producing, engineering and writing for others.
Having fallen in love with music at an early age, Manning managed to get a job at Stax Records as an engineer, producer, recording and mixing.
"The secretary at the front desk that day ... let me come in," he later recalled. "Before long, Steve Cropper happened to walk by, saw my guitar case. We talked and I told him what I wanted to do — which was work at the studio. Steve was good enough to let me come in and copy tapes and sweep the floors and learn."
In 1966, he met Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who was on tour with The Yardbirds, and was later involved in the final mixing of the seminal Led Zeppelin III album. He worked at London' legendary Abbey Road Studios in the 80s and in the early 90s, he moved to the Bahamas, where he ran Compass Point Studios with partner Chris Blackwell for two decades.
Manning was also an accomplished photographer, working for the likes of the NME, snapping stars including Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield, Chuck Berry and more during his career behind the camera.
Meanwhile, although recognised for his time behind the mixing desk, Manning continued to release his own music, with his final record - Red and Black - coming in January this year.
Looking back on his career, Manning said: "The people and places I’ve bumped into have been amazing. To have been in Stax, in Ardent, Abbey Road, Compass Point. I can’t believe it sometimes. I’m just lucky, very lucky, to have done all that."